Businesses will have to follow the same rules as homeowners if proposed changes to the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Drought Management Plan go through.
SCRD directors asked for a review of the plan earlier this year, and staff came to the Nov. 17 infrastructure services committee with two main suggestions: A clearer definition of “cosmetic use” and a ban on cosmetic use for both residential and commercial water customers at Stage 3.
Under the existing rules, businesses on SCRD water are allowed to continue outdoor water use at Stage 3 if it’s “necessary for the core function of the business that cannot be avoided or deferred.” The change under consideration would add “and does not include cosmetic uses of water.”
Cosmetic use would be defined as “any use that is for the purpose of improving appearance. For example: washing vehicles, boats, sidewalks, driveways, decks, fences, windows, exterior building surfaces.” There would still be exceptions for any work needed to comply with health and safety regulations or to wash salt water from equipment.
Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers said she’s worried about the potential impact to some businesses, and wants to ensure they’re consulted before any bylaw amendments go ahead.
“There are businesses where this is all they do,” said Siegers. “So this actually says that business can no longer operate during Stage 3 at all.”
Mark Lebbell of Roberts Creek, who chairs the infrastructure committee, said he hopes restrictions on water use will spur commercial and agricultural users to seek out alternative water sources.
Halfmoon Bay director Garry Nohr said the new rules “would be a disaster” to enforce.
“Talk about being Big Brother,” he said. “I can see us giving a timeline to say you should look for your own water sources for the next up to five years, and maybe come up with some alternatives, but to drop it on them, in their lap … I think we should think really heavily about this.”
Siegers suggested the SCRD could help. “As we go out looking for [new] groundwater sources, is it on our radar that we have food producers, who may need alternate sources of water that is not potable, so that could be included and be an option for them if we ever go to Stage 4 again.”
Elphinstone director Lorne Lewis said the SCRD is already in a position to follow the lead of communities like Quesnel which provide standpipes at their well sites. “We’ve got the potential of doing that out at McNair IPP. As well there is a well noted on the maps of Hillside [Industrial Park] that is accessible by road, and we’ve never developed that,” said Lewis. “We’ve got water that we aren’t even touching.”
The debate over the drought management plan prompted director Ian Winn of West Howe Sound to wonder about how to treat breweries and distilleries in agricultural zones. Brewing and distilling are water intensive, but GM of infrastructure services Bryan Shoji explained that restrictions are aimed specifically at outdoor use, although the total ban at Stage 4 also applies to greenhouses.
“It does not restrict any water for processing,” Shoji said, “whether it’s for concrete, whether it’s for beer or a brewery, or any similar application.”
Frank Mauro, director for Pender Harbour, said streamlining and simplifying the rules makes sense, and he was the first to suggest a sliding scale for fines be included in the changes to the Drought Management Plan.
“I think that they’re very low. I think that they all could be increased, and if they’re all not just increased I think that they should escalate. Infractions at Stage 3 are certainly way more important than infractions at Stage 1,” Mauro said. He also put forward the idea of a higher fee for the lawn permits.
Fines range from $50 for a first offence to $200 for a third offence, regardless of the level of restrictions.
According to a second report presented at the meeting, enforcement rarely goes as far as levying a fine. Sustainability and education coordinator Raphael Shay told the committee only one property owner was ticketed this year under the SCRD’s Water Rates and Regulations Bylaw and seven warning letters were issued. Last year, 24 warning letters went out, and there were no tickets.
Shay’s review of water conservation efforts this year also noted that users on the Chapman system didn’t cut back as much during Stage 2 and 3 restrictions as they did in 2015 and reduction targets were not met.
Lebbell said he felt there was a noticeable difference in the level of public concern this year, in part because people had a sense there was more rain. Shay’s report noted that the rain was highly localized, that the rainfall people saw in residential areas wasn’t matched at Chapman Lake and it was slower to recharge over the summer.
The report also pointed to other situations that put stress on the water supply, including a warm spring that caused the snowpack, which was fairly typical, to melt a month early, and the SCRD’s increase of “environmental flows” into Chapman Creek.
Watering restrictions on the Chapman system started May 1 this year and ended Oct. 11. They were at Stage 3 between Aug. 24 and Sept. 19.
